Zelensky submits bill on 23 national shrines to Verkhovna Rada

Volodymyr Zelensky. Photo: a screenshot from Zelensky’s Telegram channel

President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a bill on the protection of 23 national shrines of Ukraine. In the future, it is planned to use the shrines for the formation and preservation of the national memory of the Ukrainian people, reports UNN.

The head of state proposed to parliament bill No. 15550, which defines the concept of a national shrine. Twenty-three sites will receive the new status, including the Kyiv-Pechersk, Pochaiv, and Sviatohirsk Lavras, as well as the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. According to the list, the shrines also include the house of Skovoroda, the Zaporizhian Sich on Khortytsia, the site of the Battle of Kruty, and the grave of the poet Shevchenko in Kaniv.

For a site to be included in the list, the law requires the monument to meet at least two criteria:

• the historical monument must be more than 1,000 years old;
• it must be an outstanding and unique place of historical memory for the Ukrainian people, its spirituality and culture, the formation of the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian statehood, and the affirmation of Ukrainian national and civic identity;
• it must bear the hallmarks of unique and irreplaceable value to the Ukrainian people;
• it must be directly associated with outstanding historical, cultural, religious, military-political, and other significant state events, with the lives and activities of prominent individuals who played an important role in such events and made a significant contribution to the development of Ukrainian statehood, its spirituality, culture, science, education, and other fields.

The authorities plan to use the national shrines for state holidays, official ceremonies with the participation of senior officials, and the taking of military oaths. Officials have also permitted the conduct of spiritual rehabilitation programs for war veterans and military chaplains, as well as military burial rites on these grounds. A special council under the president will determine the further list of sites.

A second bill, No. 15551, introduces strict criminal penalties for damage to heritage sites. The deliberate destruction or damage of a national shrine will entail imprisonment for a term of 3 to 10 years. For conducting illegal archaeological excavations, courts will impose a fine of up to 51,000 hryvnias or restriction of liberty for up to 2 years. The law also provides for large monetary fines of up to 1,700,000 hryvnias for legal entities for harmful construction works.

Previously, the UOJ reported that Zelensky signed the law on the National Pantheon.

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